Michael Totten has a long photoessay. Remember to support him with the tip jar.
Iraq is a big place. It is more or less the size of California. If a car bomb were to go off in San Diego, it wouldn
No Danegeld
Christopher Hitchens has a long but fascinating history of the beginning of the war of the US versus Islam. I’ve always thought that this would make a great movie, particularly since September 11th.
Who Would Give Up First?
Boris Johnson says that it’s time for England to reconquer France (“reconquer”? Is he referring to Waterloo?).
A couple months ago, I’d have thought it a trivial exercise, what with the several reverse speeds on the French tanks and all, but with the wimpy performance by the Royal Navy in the Shatt al Arab and the ensuing response from Whitehall, it’s not clear who would win the rush to surrender.
Where Did That Come From?
How did this guy acquire such a hatred of “rich people”?
Surely it couldn’t have had anything to do with the fact that he was under the tutelage of the English Department?
What The Dems Really Think About The Military
This is pretty funny.
“Halp us, Jon Cary–We’re Stuck In A Cave.”
It’s fascinating how an auto insurance ad campaign can so quickly become a cultural icon.
[Update]
OK, it’s an oldie (a few months). But I missed it the first time around.
A Middle Ground?
Eugene Volokh (who I’m given to understand has a pretty tight pattern at the range) asks “why not at least arm the professors who want to be“? The argument is, as usual, comprehensive.
[Update a few minutes later]
Best comment so far: “You really want to arm Ward Churchill?”
[Update at 3:45 PM EDT]
Another amusing comment:
In order to reflect the hierarchy of faculty, there would have to be stratification:
Assistant Professors get muzzle-loaders
Associate Professors get semi-automatics
Full Professors get automatics
Adjuncts get a sharp letter-opener
Chaired Professors are irrelevant, since they never come to campus
Two Americas
One in which a rich tort lawyer pontificates on “two Americas” but gets $400 haircuts, and one in which that’s like a bad joke.
Treating Greg Olsen
Greg Olsen, the private sector’s number three astronaut gave some remarks to welcome the space investors and entrepreneurs to the Space Investment Summit along with Buzz Aldrin on Monday. He said, “I live in Princeton. Everyone knows everyone in Princeton. I went out to dinner and the owner of the restaurant said, ‘You’re that astronaut guy.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Let me give you this bottle of wine!’ I was feeling pretty good about myself until my girl friend said, ‘If you were Buzz Aldrin, he would pay for your whole dinner.'”
Olsen was not there as an investor. His current investment fancies are energy related. We shared a cab after the event broke up. There was a bunch of road construction near the Ritz where Boeing had hosted the welcome. I asked him, “Which is rougher, a Soyuz flight or a New York City cab ride?” His answer: “Both.”
I asked him if he got a tax deduction on the flight from doing experiments. “No.”
We were both going to different Jean George’s, but Olsen tried to convince me that they had only one location in New York. It seems Olsen can still be surprised.
I explained to him that I’d spent more money than the cost a suborbital flight trying to bring space to everyone. And that Space Shot’s Latin motto, Astrae Popularetis, means, “You’ll see the Stars belong to the People.” I got off first and he said, “Don’t worry about the cab fare.” I said, “After that story you told, you have to let me pay.” I gave the cabbie $20 and said, “Driver, I want to treat this man to a cab ride!” If he was Buzz Aldrin, we would have taken a limo.
A VPI Casualty Who Some Of Us Know
Please extend your best wishes for a rapid and full recovery to Eric Anderson’s step daughter.
Space Investment Summit
Sam has been blogging individual items from it, but Charles Lurio has an overview over at Space Transport News today.